(23) And he went throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction among the people.
(24) So his fame spread throughout all Syria, and they brought him all the sick, those afflicted with various diseases and pains, those oppressed by demons, epileptics, and paralytics, and he healed them.
(25) And great crowds followed him from Galilee and the Decapolis, and from Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
Passages like this one make me see the value of reading the whole Bible and not just cherry-picking passages. It's exciting to read about Jesus' early ministry. After all, we want to root for Jesus. We love to see how successful He was. Here He was starting to get some measure of fame because of all that He was doing.
However, in three years all of this would turn against Him. People would forget all that He did and call for His crucifixion. Yet that is why He had to come to earth. All of these works testified to who He was. We can look back and realize that He was indeed God incarnate. At the time folks just wanted what He could do for them.
It's really no different today. So many of us want our "plastic Jesus" who will keep us safe from trouble. However, as we'll see throughout the book of Matthew, that really devalues Jesus' true worth.
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